


Storming the Witch's Castle

by JacarandaBanyan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, Castles, Character Death, Evil!Wanda, Happy Ending, M/M, Magic, Prompt Fill, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Violence, Wicked Witch!Wanda, knight!steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 17:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19446367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacarandaBanyan/pseuds/JacarandaBanyan
Summary: The Scarlet Witch rains terror down upon the land. All who stand in her way suffer her wrath.After his husband is captured and presumably killed by the Scarlet Witch, Steve leads a small group of fighters for one last Hail Mary shot at taking her down, once and for all.





	Storming the Witch's Castle

**Author's Note:**

> Tony Stark Bingo Square: K1, "Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch"

The Scarlet Witch’s castle stood like a great, crouching stone beast. Captain of the (recently disbanded) Royal Knights Steve Rogers craned his neck to look up at the tallest turrets, over which dark clouds shot through with scarlet lightning swirled. Bright red light from within occasionally lit up the rest of the structure, revealing the fearsome statues and reliefs, some half-blown apart. A gate shaped like the head and mouth of a snarling tiger, teeth clenched and blocking the path into the castle proper. Red-eyed metal abominations floated overhead or prowled the uppermost towers, but they did not attack. Not yet, at least. 

By his side, Natasha looked up as well, though he suspected she wasn’t looking at the same things he was. She was good at sizing up defenses and finding a key weakness to exploit. Steve, by contrast, could never seem to take his eyes off the prize. 

“Are you sure about this, Steve?” She asked. “I’m not seeing anything different from the last time we tried to get in. Or the time before that.”

“The Wizard Strange looked into the future, and he was sure it would be tonight. Someone is going to betray her and open the gates.”

Natasha scowled. Prophecy had never been her favorite source of intel. Not that Steve could blame her. His own heart beat so hard with hope and despair that he could almost feel his ribs vibrating with the effort of containing it. 

“I wasn’t under the impression there were a whole lot of people in the castle left to betray her,” Natasha muttered. “Best I can tell, it’s just her and whatever’s left of her victims. She’s too unstable to keep anyone else around for long.”

He couldn’t keep his eyes from flashing to where gleaming, inhuman metal met Bucky’s mangled shoulder, but he pried them away almost as quickly. He needed to keep his head clear. Chances to storm the Witch’s castle didn’t come around every day. If he could just stay focused today, then he would be able to exact vengeance on her both for his best friend’s horrific torture and for the murder of his husband. 

Bucky caught his eye, and though he didn’t speak a word, his face said everything he needed to. He understood. Tony had been one of the few who’d dared help put Bucky back together when her magic had still clung to bis mind and body, making him see things and attack his friends. 

“We’ll know one way or another if the Wizard was right any minute now,” Carol said. “No use worrying about it now.”

Her calm looked like unconcern, but Steve knew it wasn’t. It was the calm that proceeded a catastrophic storm. It was very different from Bruce’s calm, which felt more like the surface of a smooth pond, just waiting to be disturbed. 

If the gates did, in fact, open, then he’d be glad to have both of their fury at his back when it came time to face the Witch. 

Suddenly, the gates began to rumble like they’d come alive and begun to snarl at the intruders. Slowly, the teeth of the great cat separated from each other and the jaws opened as though they were being unwillingly wrenched open. The stone maw gaped wider and wider until at last the way was clear enough for all five of them two pass through easily, walking side by side. 

Steve steeled himself, then strode forward into the jaws of the Witch’s castle. Behind him, his companions followed. 

* * *

The castle was a scene of chaos. Shattered glass and cracked or broken stone marred every surface. Furniture had been thrown as though by a giant, and never righted again. The occasional blood stains ratcheted up Steve’s barely-controlled fury each time he spotted one. 

The Witch was famous for her tantrums. 

No one came running, either to fight them or to join them. There was no sign of whoever had opened the gates. 

When they finally stumbled upon the Scarlet Witch, she was half-sitting half-lying on an ornate throne. It was the one piece of furniture their little band had stumbled across thus far that looked completely untouched by her destructive magic. 

She laughed when she saw them. 

“Come to kill me, Captain? With your little band of misfits with delusions of being some sort of knights-errant? How did you even get in?”

“Someone opened the gate for us.”

Confusion passed over her face like a cloud, but it was quickly wiped away and replaced with dismissal.

“I will deal with it in a minute. But first, I’ll get rid of you.”

Her fist went up in dancing red flames.

With a jerky arm motion, Steve signaled them to attack. The Witch rose to her feet like an annoyed cat, still with that little self-satisfied smile that made him see red. 

In a heartbeat his shield was in his hands. Memories of Tony smithing it for him welled up like tears as soon as his fingers touched the surface. He tried to harden his heart to the memory of Tony’s voice, but-

_ Here, feel how it vibrates just a little, even when you’re holding just holding it steady? That’s how you know the anti-magic runes are working. I developed the sequence especially for you, ‘cause I know you just love to throw your weapons around instead of holding onto them. No matter what you throw this at, magic won’t stick to it, and it’ll always come back to you. Just like how I’ll always come back to you. Yeah, don’t make that face, I’ll only be gone a week. The Witch won’t choose this particular week to attack just because you’re not there to be all big and muscle-y. So, soldier, is a custom weapons’ job worth a kiss from my beloved? _

-it was a lost cause. 

His fury and grief lent strength to his throw.

Tony’s shield sliced through the air like a blade. The Scarlet Witch’s eyes widened as her quickly summoned red mist didn’t stop it, couldn’t so much as budge it one measly centimeter from it’s path. The white of her sclera stood out like a bone against the the bloody mist that permeated the room. The shield made a whistling sound as it barely missed her to lodge itself in the throne instead. 

True to Tony’s word, the shield quivered and shot back into his hand. 

The Witch’s smile turned into a snarl. 

Her metal abominations attacked at her furious shriek. She probably thought she could distract him with her little puppets. Well, she had another think coming. 

He lunged past one to bash his shield into her ribs. Something gave more than it should have, and she cried out. A smile spread across his face without conscious thought, but he made no attempt to reign it in. Let someone other than her smile for once. If he couldn’t have the joy of Tony back in his arms, then let him have the perverse blood-thrill of battle. 

Behind him, Carol’s fists glowed with the sky-blue battle magic she’d learned in far-off Kree, before she’d managed to flee the empire and return home. It struck Steve as fitting that her magic should look like strands of a bright summer sky; the sky was the limit to her power, after all. She and Natasha fought back to back, the former King’s Dancer taking out the creatures that tried to get too close to Steve and Carol brute-force ripping apart first the magic that held the metal figures together, then the metal itself. No matter how many poured into the throne room, Carol kept them at bay. 

“My creations will destroy you,” the Witch hissed as she scrambled away, but her eyes were uncertain. 

“Tony’s creations were better,” he said, and threw his shield again. This time it clipped her leg, and she went down. 

“His can’t be  _ better _ if he refuses to make any,” she laughed, high and wild, as she slid away on her back, arms and one good leg pushing her body across the bloodstained floor. “If he’d just made me the weapons I wanted, I wouldn’t have had to hurt him. Well, he needed to pay for my parents, but that was different. Once he was punished, it would be over. But no, he had to fight me at every turn.”

“He didn’t murder your parents, they died in a civil war. If you’re looking for a culprit, look for the man that used the weapon. Don’t hunt down a man who’s dedicated his life to peace and atonement.”

Her fingers waved, and visions of Tony dead and dying assaulted his senses. He pushed past them. There was no need to look at them now; they’d be waiting for him in hs nightmares every night until his dying day. 

At some point Bucky had taken Natasha’s place by Carol, picking off anything that got too close to him or their battle mage. Bruce’s roars of fury echoed down the halls, but he had no idea where Natasha had disappeared to. Knowing her, she was probably searching the castle for something she’d spotted earlier, while they’d been waiting for the gates to yawn open. Or perhaps she was following some tip or whisper she’d heard. Whatever it was, she probably had a plan. She could take care of herself. 

The Witch’s snarl deepened as he pushed past her mind illusions and continued to advance on her. 

“He died painfully,” she spit, “stuck in his own head, seeing nothing but nightmares, and when he was at his lowest I  _ ripped out his heart.” _

_ Thunk. _ His shield cracked against her uninjured side. 

“He knew it was coming, and he dreaded it. You should have seen all that delicious fear!”

_ Thunk. _ She lifted a piece of broken statue with her magic and threw it at him. Tony’s shield deflected it easily.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s dead,” she screamed through her injured ribs. “He was the only one who could craft such elegant metal puppets. If he’s not willing to make them for me, then it serves my purposes just as well for no one to make them.”

A vaguely humanoid metal creature launched itself at Bucky in Steve’s peripheral vision. Carol had already blasted off its legs, but it continued to pull itself along the castle floor by its arms. His friend dispatched it easily. 

The Witch continued to scream and throw things, but Steve just advanced steadily until he loomed over her. Nothing she said mattered. No matter how she lashed out, he deflected. Her rampage had to end. Too many people across the land had suffered too much. 

He raised the shield over his head, then brought it down with as much force as his body could stand. 

And then it was over.

She choked and gurgled as the edge of the shield broke through her ribs and into her chest cavity. As the light faded from her eyes, the red mists began to disintegrate. The metal creatures stumbled to an awkward standstill, then fell over marionettes whose strings had been cut. Through the window, sunlight began to poke through the dissipating clouds. 

It was over, but Steve still felt empty inside. 

He would have preferred not to kill her. Seeing blood on Tony’s shield always made him feel sick and hopeless. But he’d already tried talking to her. Over and over again. There was no other way to end her terror upon the country.

He gave himself a hundred-count to collect himself, then rose to his feet. 

“Let’s head out. Natasha should be able to spot us if we wait by the gate.”

* * *

Natasha was already standing on the other side of the gate teeth, expression glowing.

“I searched for our helper,” she called out. “The one who let us in. Steve, it’s  _ him.” _

He passed through the gate before she could finish, and then she didn’t need to. For the first time since hearing of his husbands death, fierce, powerful joy welled up in Steve’s chest until it felt like his body could not contain it. He dropped the shield and sprinted towards the figure lying on the ground beside her. 

“Tony, you’re alive, you’re alive! But how-” 

Tears dripped down his cheeks as he scooped his husband up and held him to his chest. Something hard dug into his stomach, and he loosened his grip a little to look down. 

A glowing blue circle sat in the center of Tony’s chest. 

“She kept talking about how she was going to rip my heart out, and every day she got more and more wild-eyed. I knew she’d do it, Steve. So I pretended for a little while that I might break, that I might make better metal monstrosities for her to unleash on people, just so I could get my hands on the raw parts. It took so long- every minute I was conscious it seemed I was trapped in one of her nightmares- but I eventually made myself a replacement heart. When she came to kill me, I was ready.”

“He was hiding in the gatehouse this whole time,” Natasha said. “Waiting for the opportunity to let someone in. He’s was too dizzy to stand when I found him, that’s why it took him so long to open the gates once he saw us.”

“I tried to shout for you,” Tony murmured. He pressed his face back into Steve’s chest, and Steve snuggled him closer. “But my voice was too weak.”

“That’s okay, Tony. You’re  _ here, _ you’re  _ alive, _ and that’s what matters.”

He leaned down and sealed his lips against Tony’s. Overhead, the clouds broke up completely before the warmth and power of the sun, and the darkness that had choked the land for so long eased away.


End file.
